HYDERABAD, Nov 29: Members of the National Assembly have been urged not to approve the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 2002 unless recommendations, made by labour leaders, were incorporated in it.

This was stated by the secretary-general of the Muttahida Labour Federation of Pakistan, Qamoos Gul Khattak.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, he said that the labour leaders expected the elected representatives of the people would not allow the fundamental rights of the working class to be violated.

Promulgation of the IRO 2002, Khattak said, contradicted the claims of the government that it believed in safeguarding the fundamental rights of workers because it deprived workers of their basic rights to form unions and violated the globally- accepted convention of the International Labour Organization.

Khattak said that authorities had not only ignored the unanimous recommendations of the tripartite standing committee but had also ignored the provisions of the 1973 Constitution.

He said that the existing trade unions had been weakened by taking away the powers of labour courts to reinstate the sacked workers while divesting the National Industrial Relations Commission of its powers to grant stay orders.

All plant level trade unions, he said, had been left at the mercy of employers because union leaders would not risk supporting any workers as no relief was available to them from the labour court.